Brand Advancement

ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) - The UCF Athletics Fan Development unit is being rebranded. UCF Vice President and Director of Athletics Danny White announced the changes Tuesday. Based on a review of action items from The Knights' Charge (A Strategic Plan for UCF Athletics 2017-2022), the marketing arm of UCF Athletics will now be known as Brand Advancement. 
 
The office of Brand Advancement will continue to be led by Associate Athletics Director, Jimmy Skiles (UCF '06). Skiles is now entering his fourth year managing the department. The Brand Advancement team will be broken down into three divisions: #Content, Experiential Innovation and Discovery. The Brand Advancement unit will be driven by four core values: attract, engage, entertain and retain.
 
"As a university, UCF is widely regarded as being one of the most innovative in the nation," White said. "Our athletics department strives to do things a bit differently, and we are intentional about constantly generating and cultivating new ideas. Our Fan Development and Marketing unit has been doing great, cutting-edge work for quite some time now. The terms Brand Advancement, #Content, Experiential Innovation and Discovery more closely align with how our people are thinking and operating. This is one example of how UCF Athletics is continually evolving and working toward our goal of becoming a Top 25 intercollegiate athletics department."
 
The #Content team aspires to be an industry-leading in-house agency for all creative content to be used both internally and externally for UCF Athletics (Strategic Plan 3.2.A). The #Content Team will be led by Eric DeSalvo (UCF '09). DeSalvo has been promoted from Director of Digital & Social Media to Assistant Athletics Director of #Content. DeSalvo has defined UCF Athletics' voice on social media and overseen the growth of the Knights' official channels by nearly half-a-million followers. Joining DeSalvo will be an Assistant Director of #Content (click here for position listing), Director of Graphic Media Carlos Phillips, and Assistant Director of Graphic Media Naeem Thomas, who joined UCF Athletics in January.
 
The Experiential Innovation team is charged with implementing the most unique game-day experience in the country, while staying aligned with the Knights' brand message (Strategic Plan 3.3). This team will be responsible for the continuous evolution of the in-game experience including promotions, fan engagement and event presentation. Becca Savolainen (UCF '13, '14, '15) and Alex Cesarano have been promoted to Associate Directors of Experiential Innovation and are joined by Assistant Director Geena Catalano (UCF '16), Assistant Director Chris Walsh (UCF '15) and Graduate Assistant Tim Conner (UCF '17).
 
The Discovery team is the most recent department to be added to UCF Athletics and will utilize technology and data to help effectively make decisions in the areas of communications, marketing and sales (Strategic Plan 3.2.B). UCF Athletics is in the process of hiring a Director of Discovery and Advertising (click here for position listing).
 
 Below is a full breakdown of the Brand Advancement department: